June 15, 2013 (Saturday) The Long Trip to CDO
My shift is going to have it's long restday again. I asked my group before the work week ends where will they spend their restday. They answered they want it at the city for a changed. Since most of us also want get away from the prison life we have at work, we decided to go to Cagayan de Oro. Ven was our host since he hails from CDO.
Come Saturday after duty, we changed immediately into our civilian clothes and hopped on the bus that will take us to campsite. We had our breakfast, got our things. Around 830AM, we took a van from Taganito to Bad-as, Placer (Surigao del Norte). The group paid PhP80 each for the fare. Who was in the group: me, Ven, Argie, Neal, Tian, and Ludee. We arrived in Bad-as around 945AM and waited for the Bachelor Bus bound to Butuan. It's already past 10AM but the bus did not arrived yet. So we decided to take the van of the same route. Fare from Bad-as to Butuan via van is PhP110.
The previous day, Friday, we attended the wedding of a colleague, Johnny Boy, and partied till 1PM. Lest I forgot, early time again of graveyard duty. Patay! Considering that we just came from graveyard shift, we looked tired and restless. I got the zombie look again. I was not able to sleep at the trip to Butuan because of the cramp space and this lady playing her mp3 player so loud. I hate those. Why do some people doesn't know the stuff called earphones?
We arrived at Butuan 3 hours later. We had our lunch at a nearby fastfood chain store then proceeded to the bus terminal. The trip to CDO from Butuan is around 5 hours which costs PhP337. We arrived in CDO already past 7PM. Ven said that we just take the taxi with the group divided into two. Who was with me on the taxi? Ven, Tian and me. Neal, Argie and Ludee on the other taxi. It was raining also that time that Ven's mom had to fetch us with umbrellas from the corner of the street near their house. We had a sumptuous homecook dinner courtesy of Ven's mom.
Come Saturday after duty, we changed immediately into our civilian clothes and hopped on the bus that will take us to campsite. We had our breakfast, got our things. Around 830AM, we took a van from Taganito to Bad-as, Placer (Surigao del Norte). The group paid PhP80 each for the fare. Who was in the group: me, Ven, Argie, Neal, Tian, and Ludee. We arrived in Bad-as around 945AM and waited for the Bachelor Bus bound to Butuan. It's already past 10AM but the bus did not arrived yet. So we decided to take the van of the same route. Fare from Bad-as to Butuan via van is PhP110.
The previous day, Friday, we attended the wedding of a colleague, Johnny Boy, and partied till 1PM. Lest I forgot, early time again of graveyard duty. Patay! Considering that we just came from graveyard shift, we looked tired and restless. I got the zombie look again. I was not able to sleep at the trip to Butuan because of the cramp space and this lady playing her mp3 player so loud. I hate those. Why do some people doesn't know the stuff called earphones?
We arrived at Butuan 3 hours later. We had our lunch at a nearby fastfood chain store then proceeded to the bus terminal. The trip to CDO from Butuan is around 5 hours which costs PhP337. We arrived in CDO already past 7PM. Ven said that we just take the taxi with the group divided into two. Who was with me on the taxi? Ven, Tian and me. Neal, Argie and Ludee on the other taxi. It was raining also that time that Ven's mom had to fetch us with umbrellas from the corner of the street near their house. We had a sumptuous homecook dinner courtesy of Ven's mom.
Coffee and Tricycle
Since Ven's parents and aunt were going to the city after dinner to visit their grandchild at the hospital, we hitched on their ride. We settled at Starbucks Limket Kai for a dose of caffeine. It's as if we have a good night sleep the other night. Kaya pa. Salamat sa kape! I knew Ludee felt good to satisfy her gravings. Little did everyone know that I myself is a coffee addict. After finishing our hot beverages, we went to a convenience store to buy some chips for tomorrows outing. We took a tricycle going to Divisoria. From there we transferred to another tricycle going to Ven's place. There's this part going to Ven's place where it is inclined. Since the tricycle is full, some of it's load must get down. We even helped in pushing the tricycle up the hill. Talked about funny experiences. Hehe. Good thing the rain had stopped pouring down.
The Morning After
Morning came and what day is it? It's Sunday, June 16. Father's day. I sent a Father's day greeting to my dad and to all the father's in my phone registry. Of course, I extended the greeting to Ven's dad. We even exchange a few conversations before we went to Makahambus Cave after breakfast.
The night before all of us stayed in one room. Feels like college days during feasibility study making where one have to sleep over on your classmate's house. Ven and I woke up early that day. The rest must have been really tired that they were still sound asleep. I will not tell who snored though. Esep Esep!
The night before all of us stayed in one room. Feels like college days during feasibility study making where one have to sleep over on your classmate's house. Ven and I woke up early that day. The rest must have been really tired that they were still sound asleep. I will not tell who snored though. Esep Esep!
It's already 7AM so we woke up the rest. We had our breakfast before we left for Makahambus Cave and swimming at Cabula resort. Didn't we looked good at the morning after photo during breakfast? Fresh from bed. Haha.. Plus points to the rice cakes during breakfast.
Off to Makahambus Cave
Ven's parents arranged the transportation that brought us to our destination. First stop was Makahambus Cave. I do remember this one. This trip to CDO wasn't my first since I have been here August 2012 for a PICHE Convention. Our side trip previously was water rafting. One has to pass by Makahambus Cave if you are going water rafting. The cave was the shortest I had explored in my entire life. It is just 50m in length. On the other side is an opening where the government had placed a viewing platform overseeing the Cagayan de Oro river. We were supposed to do white water rafting but we opted not to since we have limited time. We still plan to check out the mall. It rained the previous night making the river brown and we could have done brown water rafting. Haha.. Time spent at the area: 10minutes?
Swimming at Cabula
Cabula Resort is just a few meters away prior to Makahambus Cave. There's just a minimal entrance fee at the resort. The resort is located near the Cagayan de Oro river and it turned out that the area is where the water rafting activity ends. There's mini zipline for added fun at the pool area. You just have to drop by the water. Take that plunge! Argie tried it. I was the only one who did not went into water. Cold water 'eh. We stayed here for just an hour.
Mall time at Centrio
After fixing ourselves, we bade goodbye to our host the Diputado family. Next on our itinerary was Centrio Mall. It was raining very hard when we reached the mall. Ven took us then to this Thai restaurant for lunch. Then after lunch, we decided to check out the shops for new finds. There's a mall in Surigao City but you don't have enough choices. So we have the time to shop considering payday was just a few days more. Ven had to meet his college friends so we were left to explore the mall on our own. Anyway, we're grown ups now. We know where is left or right. Hehe.
We left our things at the grocery package counter before we head out to the shops. By the time we met at the meet up point, everyone had a shopping bag. We had another shot of caffeine then had an early dinner on a pizza house before we got back our things and went to the bus terminal to meet a colleague, Macy with his wife. Together we will travel back to Surigao City.
The bus left CDO at 830PM. We arrived at campsite around 5AM the following day. It was an exhausting trip back with all the transportation transfer but a memorable one.
"Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter." -- Izaak Walton